Monday, March 11, 2013

Connectability

This is what I was listed as on theOpen Sesame Blog out of 100 Ed Tech Must Follows back in December. The number or even being on a list is thoughtful and appreciated of course but insignificant really as we live in what Euan Semple refers to as an ephemeral meritocracy . All-in-all its nice company to be a part of and I recommend you check the list out.

What struck me initially though was my description compared to that of the other 99 on this list. Mine is a bit nebulous, no? Well I guess you can check me out on LinkedIn or about.me, or better yet follow me on Twitter etc and dig a bit deeper but I'll save you some trouble and share a few things. I am not an author, I'm not really on the speaking tour (couple events here and there), I am not a consultant, I'm not specifically an ISD or elearning (courseware?) designer (although I've worn those hats since at least the mid 90's), and finally I don't work for a big name organization having thousands of employees. In comparison to my illustrious peers on this list I appear pretty vanilla really.

I think the reason I am on this list and a few others like it is in the first sentence - "master connector." And this really resonates for me. Heck, I'm down right proud. This "connectability" has helped transform my thinking and enabled me to bring real change to the organizations that employ me as well as helped me connect others to the many who influence my thinking and actions.

Connecting is a necessary skill today. I often share with others my belief that knowledge is not static, it is dynamic - its fluid. It doesn't exist within us, but between us in our conversations. I connect with authors, speakers, thinkers, designers, and disruptors not because we are peers in those areas but because we share a common belief in learning and in the humanity within organizations being the most critical part of the organization. It's here, at this simple level, far below the tools, technology and processes that seem to dominate the conversations that our connection is made.

In the end, a master connector is really just a good "node" and a node is where everyone should strive to be first and foremost. What you know and do today is only important if you continue to stretch. And the only way I know to do that is to help keep the conversations and information flowing between us.